1 John – Weeks 1-3

Anna and I are memorizing 1 John. And we are 2 weeks into it! As we memorize, we’ve been emailing our thoughts about what we’ve been memorizing to each other. I thought I’d share those with you.

The first week we memorized ten verses. That meant that for the first three days we memorized two verses – and some of those are long! Now I’ve relaxed some and am not stressed at all about nailing it down and memorizing it – especially as the study of each verse is more important than the actual memorization. Studying the word in itself can be hiding the word in your heart. It’s amazing the things God brings to mind from things I studied years ago.

Anyway: Our thoughts:1 John 1:1-2 (Kyleigh)
“That which was from the beginning…” – God is eternal…
“Which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and touched with our hands, ” – This is an eyewitness account! Appeal to the senses – therefore this must be true!
“concerning the word of life -” – Concerning Christ
“The life was made manifest,” – Christ’s incarnation

“And we have seen it,” – Again, this is true!
“And testify to it and proclaim to you” – and it’s too much to keep to ourselves

“The Eternal life” – Christ and the eternal life we have

“which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.”

Anna: Ooh. I have nothing to add. At least, not to 1 and 2… 3 and 4, maybe.

“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us- and indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

The beginning of verse three just re-establishes what came before, but now John tells us that the reason they proclaim the eternal life is not only so others can fellowship with them and God, but also because it brings them joy.

Kyleigh: I love how straightforward John is. It’s so easy to understand… But I guess we HAVE just been doing Romans in Well Group…

Verses 3&4: And not only does it bring them joy, but they want OTHERS to have joy, too, and joy complete in fellowship with the Father.

And 5-6… (last day of 2 verses for a while!)

THIS is that life: God has no darkness in him (‘cuz light and dark can’t go together), and therefore if we walk in darkness but say we love him, we can’t really love him because light and dark are opposites…

… it’s more complicated that the other ones, but it makes sense just the same.

Anna: Yup. It’s not really that complicated, anyway.

Kyleigh: Just thinkin’ today… we can be in darkness, yet walk in the light, or be in light, yet walk in darkness.

Like we’re surrounded by darkness, yet walking in light, but there are others who go to Church and think they’re in light, and be surrounded in light, yet walk in darkness.

Anna: I think the definition of being in darkness is that “the truth is not in us” and “his word [the word of life] is not in us”, as the next verses say.

Kyleigh: Very true…
verse 8 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
In otherwords – YOU’RE A SINNER!

Anna: A great verse to keep in mind when witnessing.

Kyleigh: Yeah… as Mikhal likes to say “You are BAD!”
Verse 9 – “IF we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I love this verse, especially contrasted with verse 8… “You’re a sinner!” But… “If you confess your sin, He’ll cleanse you.” (And you’ll get that eternal life which was with the Father in v. 2)Anna: Sometimes you just feel like running down the street crying, “REPENT! YOU’RE A SINNER!” 🙂

Which leads right back into, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” We are more than just deceiving ourselves- we are calling God a liar.

Kyleigh: I love how John keeps bringing up excuses. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.”
And you can just see him thinking “But then there are people who will say ‘but I haven’t sinned,’ so he says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Sorry buddy, that doesn’t work. YOU’RE A SINNER!

Chapter Two!

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to him, if we keep his commandments.”

Verse one makes me think of Psalm 119:11 – John says he’s writing these things so we won’t sin. Just like if we hide up the Word in our heart, we won’t sin against Him (as much).

And then John says in verse 2: “but if you do sin, that’s ok. We’ve been forgiven!”

Verse three – if we’ve come to Him, we’ll want to keep His commands, and this proves that we’ve come to Him and have affiliation with Him.

(Just today I was thinking on the root of the word affiliation. I think literally it means ‘sonship.’ Filius, son, in Latin. How that fits us as adopted children of God!)

1: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

I love that title – “Jesus Christ the Righteous.”

Knowledge of what sin is helps prevent sin, but you’ll still sin. Take heart, though because we have forgiveness.

2: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Christ is the reason we have forgiveness after we do sin! 🙂

3: “And by this we know that we have come to Him, if we keep His commandments.”

If we’ve come to Him, we’ll want to keep His commands, and this proves our affiliation with Him.

4: “Whoever says ‘I know Him,’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the Truth is not in him.”

To say we know Him, we have to keep his commands. We must keep His commands in order to obey Him, and thru obedience we begin to know Him. His commands also display His character. (ie – Be Holy as I am Holy… and then laws that followed – all of Leviticus, basically – these laws are things that help us become holy and display His holiness).

5: “But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him.”

God’s love is perfected in those who keep his word (as contrasted with liars in v. 4). We later learn what perfect love does… John’s using a plant later to payoff in ch. 4…

6. “Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”

Abide in Him = He’s your role model! This is a good verse to put up on my wall… and I think it defines false Christians, who only say they abide in Him.

7: “Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.”

This is the old commandment, you don’t reject it, it’s what you already believed, the word that you have heard.

8 – “At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

Such hope! The darkness is leaving! 🙂 And the old commandment isn’t needed as much because darkness is leaving.

9 – “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”

Requirement for walking in the light – love your brother. That’s a hard one sometimes.

10 – “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”
Abide in the light, don’t stumble.

But as humans we can’t possibly always abide in the light.

11 – “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

You must love your brother to walk in the light!
People in the darkness are BLIND!

12 – “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake.”

Our sins aren’t forgiven for us, but for God.

13 – “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know He who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.”

This letter is for everyone, even to children!

He IS from the beginning (not was) because He is “I AM.”

14 – “I write to you, fathers, because you know he who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”

The incredible potential of the word of God in young men…

And more emphasis on God as I AM.

By the time this posts, we’ll have memorized more, but more will be coming then. 🙂